GUY'S GONE
ByUwBartsn
The South'* brightest coo
temporary literary light has
bees extinguished.
Guy's gone.
"Tefl our Mends in Kobe
son the family's holding up
pretty well." John, his son.
told me on the telephone
shortly after Guy's passing,
Thursday. July 23. 1981. I'd
called to encourage and com
fort the bereaved family, near
Raleigh. But it's difficult to do
that when you're broken-up
and weeping yourself.
"Teacher, poet and author
Guy Owen, the creator of 'The
FHm-Flam Man' stories who
was lauded by colleagues as a
major force in Southern lit
erature, died Thhrsday of
liver cancer at the age of 56,"
a crisp AP press release an
nounced.
"The... North Carolina
State University professor of
English died at Rex Hospital
after a long bout with the
cancer," the sloppy AP re
lease which mentioned his
age three times in short order,
continued.
Even in my grief, it oc
curred to me that Guy
wouldn't have atated the
manor feat way! Guy Owen
was a witter!
He was also the humanest
human being I ever knew. He
used to come to my humble
quarters in Pembroke. North
Carolina, where we'd both
just slouch around, talking
shop. I could've been living in
a palace instead of a hovel,
and Guy wouldn't have acted
any differently. He had his
own ideas as to what real
worth consisted of. And they
all had to do with people, not
their circumstances. Some
how Guy redeemed the whole
Caucasian race for this Lum
bee, without even trying. I
was happy that we both
belonged to the same human
race. That was close enough
for us both.
Guy Owen was my friend
and I was his. He was also my
benefactor and I was his
protege. We both worked in
the "Poetry in the Schools"
project. And when he wss
writing and promoting Jour
ney far Jednl, a novel about a i
13-year-old Lumbee Indian
boy. we talked ikoAnHR
then usually. \
when 1 didn't feel tike it. Ike
the tine he related his Id
ventures--or misadventures
with the lady in the pub
lisher's establishment in New
York Gty. She it was who'd .
been detailed to trim-down
one at Guy's books. No writer
wants anyone deleting some
at his beautifully-descriptive
passages, and I guess Guy
least of anyone. Anyway, '
when she'd finished cutting ,
his work, Guy looked at her
and shook his head sadly.
"Lady," he remarked dtyly,
"I'm glad you weren't the one
who circumcised met"
Guy loved folklore and was
North Carolina's foremost
fotklorist. But to really un
derstand and appreciate it,
Guy felt one had to get out
among the people who cre
ated it all in the first place.
And so he got out among
them. He loved them, they
loved him, and everybody had
a great time during the
process of learning and gath
ering.
As a writer, Guy thought I
was the real thing. And I
knew darn well he was. He
wrote not because he wanted
to be rich and famous,
but because there was some
thing human that he wanted
to convey. When you read
him, look out, because he
appeals to all your senses
simultaneously.
He was not a William
Faulkener. He was not an
Erskine Caldwell or a Ten
nessee Williams. He was Guy
Owen, 100% original, and in
all past eternity there has
never been another. Nor will
there be in the endless ages
ahead. Guy was one of a kind.
Everyone down here who ever
knew him, probably feels
lucky for having done so,
because he never failed to
impart something human and
priceless.
Dm* Chavla from Pem
broke re tome to delight the |
audience for her sixth aeaaon
m Aont Mary ka 'Strike at die
Wind!" See atary oa page
The first President
to ride in an automobile
was Theodora Roosevelt.
Th? building on tho bock of 'a ntckoi it Monticollo. homo of Thomm iofforaon.
FAITH KEEPS THE CONTINUITY!
IN THE FAMILY CIRCLE I
IT
if!! he fact that some sort of family unit has
always existed is evident from the earliest
records of human society. This conclusion
is reinforced throughout the Bible, in which
the rules for the conduct of family life are laid
out in explicit detail. Somehow the family unit
has survived to the present time, despite
differences of opinion resulting from the
changing lifestyles of each succeeding
generation; including the so-called "new
morality", with its rising tide of unmarried
and/or deliberately childless couples.
Nonetheless, with the help of faith the family
structure will continue to prevail; and there
is no more challenging nor rewarding human -
relationship in the area of love, compromise
and the development of character; both our
children's and our own.
My soul knows that I am
part of the human race...
I am part of my family.
? David H. Lawrence
ATTEND
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